Newt Scamander and the Graveyard of Forgotten Furniture
by ViolaMoon
Summary: Newt has been called to Durmstrang to catch a creature that is trapped in the castle and Dumbledore decides to join him.


**This story was also written for the Fourth Round of the Seventh Season of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition:** **Don't Take Things Out of Context!**

**I'm writing as Chaser 1 for The Tutshill Tornados.**

**Chaser 1 prompt: **"I don't know how I got stuck under there. It was just a … uh, hilarious chain of events." Impractical Jokers

**These are the prompts I'm using to as a chaser to score some extra points: **14\. [Creature] Demiguise, 11. [Action] Hide & 3. [Location] Durmstrang

**Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the world J.K. Rowling has created. It's all hers, from Diagon Alley to Hogwarts to all the people living there.**

**Thanks to my fantastic teams for betaing!**

**A/N: This takes place before FB1.**

**Title: Newt Scamander and the Graveyard of Forgotten Furniture**

**Words: 2443**

* * *

The freezing air around him clung to his skin. Newt pulled his coat tighter around his body and readjusted his scarf. Although he knew Durmstrang was located somewhere in Northern Europe, he had not expected it to be this cold. Beside him, Dumbledore seemed to be enjoying himself; as if he was a puppy eager to meet people for the first time, he was observing everything around him. The cold didn't seem to bother him one bit.

As Newt surveyed the scenery himself, the castle came into view. It wasn't as big as Hogwarts, but the grounds were at least twice as extensive. A rush of warmth filled him and he looked over to see Dumbledore pointing his wand at him.

"Now, Newt, I know that you were taught the warming charm; there's no need to freeze out here." He flashed a charming smile.

Newt mumbled his thanks, and they continued onwards. "Why are you visiting Durmstrang anyway?"

"Well, I am doing some research for Defence Against the Dark Arts class and thought I could accompany you; the library here at Durmstrang will prove useful for what I need," Dumbledore answered with a hint of mystery. It seemed he had no intention of revealing what exactly it was that he was researching.

Newt had been called to the school by the current headmaster as there seemed to be a creature hiding in the castle. He had received no information about what sort of animal it was, but that just made Newt even more curious.

Soon they were inside the castle and welcomed by the headmaster, a surly looking wizarding by the name of Sokolov. With his large, beak-like nose and sharp eyes, he reminded Newt of the bird of prey from which he took his name. Newt decided not to mention this, however.

"Mr Scamander, Professor Dumbledore, welcome to Durmstrang!" he said in a thick eastern European accent. He lifted his arms up in greeting and then shook each of their hands enthusiastically. Sokolov gestured inside, and the three men made their way through the entrance hall and deeper into the castle. They were taken to some guest chambers which they could use for the duration of their stay. As they were shown around the castle, Sokolov reminded them of the stipulation for their stay: they would be Oblivated of their knowledge of the school's location and what it looked like upon departing.

"Now Dumbledore, the library is located further down this hall; I am sure you will find what you need there." Sokolov pointed to a set of large wooden doors. Newt shifted his brown leather suitcase from one hand to the other, eager to get started. But first, he needed to know what creature it was he was supposed to be catching. He'd kept an eye out but, as of yet, he'd seen no signs of creature activity.

Dumbledore took his leave to start his research, and Newt and Sokolov progressed through the castle. Finally, they stopped in front of another set of wooden doors.

"We have caught sightings of a creature in here, Mr Scamander. A strange creature—it looked like a white ape which vanished as soon as we tried to catch it. It took a nasty bite of Professor Egorov's finger, so we decided to let it be until we could get an expert here." Sokolov winced as if the bite had been on his own finger.

Newt's eyes lit up. "That sounds like a Demiguise! They are timid creatures and will bite if provoked. What on earth is it doing here though? They are native to the far east." The question wasn't really to Sokolov, Newt was already calculating in his head how he would gain the creature's trust so that he could take him away from Durmstrang. "I can take it from here, Professor Sokolov. Thank you for showing me around."

Without even waiting for the man to answer, Newt entered the room slowly and quietly. He knew that Demiguises had precognitive sight and were highly logical, so it was more than likely that it knew he was coming and what the outcome of this encounter would be. The room was full of discarded furniture and other objects, a bit like the Room of Hidden Things at Hogwarts, and there were plenty of hiding places for the shy Demiguise.

Newt found a comfortable chair on one of the piles and levitated it down so he could sit on it. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his notebook and a pocket quill. He started taking notes; this was his first encounter with a Demiguise and he wanted to document it as thoroughly as possible. Newt also knew that if he started looking for it, the creature would not show itself; it was most likely frightened by all the wizards who'd tried to capture it, and therefore, Newt would first earn its trust.

Newt sat and surveyed the room for hours, taking notes and reading through his books on the subject. From time to time, he caught a glimpse of it. Just as Sokolov and his books had described it, it looked like a white ape, but it had silver fur and brown eyes. Newt had decided to call it Dougal because the eyes reminded him of an old friend of his. As night approached, Newt decided that he had done enough for the day, so he would continue tomorrow.

* * *

The next day, Newt found himself in the room again. This time, he was a bit louder in his movements and allowed himself to chat out loud to himself so Dougal could get used to his voice. Having read everything he needed to about Demiguises and having taken enough notes, Newt allowed himself to wander around the incredibly large room, which was most likely magically expanded as it seemed to go on for miles.

Every so often, he felt Dougal watching him and could see from the corner of his eye that the Demiguise was following him. "Do you think there's anything interesting here, Dougal?" he asked the creature and watched as he sped away from him.

Newt followed him, not really knowing what to expect. The furniture around him started looking more and more ramshackle and badly stacked. There were places where he had to carefully move chairs or other objects to get past. At his every step, Dougal moved with him and then stopped if he went too fast.

He had just turned around a corner when he heard the doors opening in the background followed by a shout. "Newt?" It was Dumbledore. "Where are you?"

Newt was about to answer when he saw Dougal's eyes turn blue and remembered that when a Demiguises eyes turn blue, it was because they are using their precognitive ability. "What do you see?" he asked, but before he could guess what, Dougal turned invisible and ran, seeming to abandon his careful trek through the graveyard of forgotten furniture, knocking over everything in his path.

Newt wondered what Dougal had seen, what was going to happen. He realised that he needed to capture him sooner than planned. An unexpected visitor could come again and then he would be back to square one. Newt would have to convince Dougal to get into his suitcase now, even if it meant Newt would have to do some climbing too.

"I'm back here, Dumbledore—I'm a bit busy right now, would you wait for me?" he called out in the direction of the doors before following Dougal as best he could. He started climbing the pile of furniture in front of him, trying not to knock over anything and failing miserably. He reached out with his right hand to pull himself up on the chest of drawers in front of him, causing a set of wine glasses, which had been stacked like a pyramid, to topple and smash on the floor beneath him. "Oops," he muttered, looking down at the mess.

"Is everything alright over there, Newt?" Dumbledore called, a tone of concern in his voice.

"Yes!" he shouted back and continued to follow Dougal.

Dougal materialised for a moment to look at him with curious, yet calculating eyes. Newt did not like that look. Was he being set up or did Dougal know what he was trying to do? They continued climbing. Newt reached the top of a stack and looked back briefly at the destruction left in the wake of the Demiguise's panicked flight; he hoped that Sokolov would not notice the damage or at least think it had happened before Newt got there.

"Err… Newt? I would get down from there; it doesn't look very stable. Maybe give the creature a break and come back later?" Dumbledore called out to him again. Newt could see him now and saw that he looked both exasperated and a little amused by the destruction.

"No… It's fine, I'm getting there!" Just as Newt called that, he lost his footing. The wardrobe he was standing on top of started to tilt and with it, several chairs and even a chandelier were under threat of toppling down with it. He tried to hop down to a safer spot, but the chandelier caught on his foot, and he went head first off the top of the pile and landed on a sofa. He took a breath of relief, which was premature, as this, too, started to move. He gripped onto the arms as it began to slide down the pile.

Newt thought that this would be the end of it until he saw the bookcase. He pulled out his wand, hoping to blast the bookcase out of the way, but this dislodged a table and a set of dining chairs behind it, causing all of them to careen in his direction. He could hear Dumbledore roaring with laughter in the background, obviously unwilling to help him out of this predicament.

The sofa was firmly embedded under the bookcase, table, and chairs. Newt was stuck. Well and truly stuck. He tried to move, but his leg was trapped, and his wand was nowhere to be seen.

"Can I get a hand here?" he shouted out as soon as he was sure everything had stopped moving.

"How on earth did you manage to get so much on top of you?" Dumbledore asked. Unable to stop laughing, he had to pause for a moment to catch his breath before continuing. "A simple stasis charm would have stopped everything; I know you wanted to catch the Demiguise but surely…" he said, unable to keep speaking as he clutched his side and laughed again.

"I don't know how I got stuck under here," Newt said, looking around the best he could before Dumbledore lifted the furniture off of him, even he could see the hilarity in the situation, "it was just a…um, hilarious chain of events," Newt shrugged and then chuckled.

"It was also a rather unlucky chain of events!" Dumbledore corrected, looking around for Newt's wand. Newt couldn't help but agree; he was sore all over, Dougal had disappeared again, and his wand was missing.

They walked over to where Newt had dropped his case and there, sitting on top of it, was Dougal and, laying right in front of the Demiguise, his wand. "Dougal, I guess this means you will stop hiding from me?" Newt asked the creature with a sigh of relief. Dougal, of course, didn't respond, but Newt took the fact that he wasn't running to mean that he would come with him. He moved over and lifted Dougal up. "Let me show you your new home." Newt picked up his wand and placed it in his pocket before opening up his suitcase.

"Dumbledore, do me a favour? Would you put the room to rights again, and then carry my suitcase to the guest room? I am finished here; once you're finished with your research, we can go," he said, not even waiting for Dumbledore to answer as he was so excited to show Dougal his new habitat inside the suitcase. He was glad that Dougal wasn't hurt, and he was sure that he would be happier with him than locked in a storage room in Durmstrang.

Once Newt was sure that Dougal was comfortable, he returned to the outside world to report to Sokolov that Dougal had been captured. As it turned out, Dumbledore was finished as well and had even been allowed to borrow a few of the books he had used.

"Now Mr Scamander, Professor Dumbledore," Sokolov addressed them as soon as they reached the Portkey. "I will be performing the Memory Charm on you as agreed. We have allowed you to keep the memories of your capture of the Demiguise, Mr Scamander and the results of your research, Professor Dumbledore, but to ensure Durmstrang's secrets, everything else you experienced will be removed."

Newt nodded; it was a shame really. He had grown fond of Durmstrang, even if he had spent most of his time there in a storage cupboard. "Go ahead, I'm ready," Newt said, placing his suitcase down.

Soon both wizards had had their memories altered, and they stood before the Portkey.

"Well, I guess since we are here, it means that our mission was successful?" Dumbledore asked, looking a tad dazed. "I have more books in my possession than before we got here," he said, looking in his bag to confirm.

Newt nodded. He could remember being inside the storage cupboard, but everything else was blank as if he had Portkeyed directly into it and out again.

"By the way, Newt, how on earth did you get that bruise on your cheek?" Dumbledore asked, with a look of bewilderment.

Newt pressed his fingers to his cheek and winced; it must have been from his little tumble. Did that mean that Dumbledore couldn't remember what had happened to him in the room? "Oh, I fell when catching Dougal—the Demiguise," he said, watching Dumbledore's expression to see if he could remember it. He didn't seem to.

"Well, that's part of the job, I guess," Dumbledore said, "Catching Magical Creatures is not without its dangers."

Newt smiled to himself. Thank Merlin for Memory Charms. Dumbledore would not have let him live that one down if he had remembered. "Let's get home; it's time for our Portkey," he said, dismissing the conversation, eager to see to his other creatures waiting for him back home.

With one hand gripped tightly on his suitcase and the other on the tin of goulash, Newt watched as the scenery around him grew distant and he was finally on his way home.


End file.
